Tips for Writing a Trip Report

Thank you, Mardee --- I already write my reports as you suggest, probably because of some long-ago advice from you!

I'd add:

You can go back and edit your report if you catch some boo-boo.

There is a slightly tricky way to add links in a report --- I forget how to do it every time.

I like to add how many nights I spent in each location.

Yes, please, more paragraphs.

One question:

I always feel shy about including a link to one of my own trip reports when I'm replying to somebody's question about something relevant later on. I often PM the person instead. Silly?

I always feel shy about including a link to one of my own trip reports when I'm replying to somebody's question about something relevant later on. I often PM the person instead. Silly?

Yes! 😂 Seriously, Nancy, I would put a link in there. I love it when people do that because then it makes it easy, and I can go look at it and find it right away, rather than having to do a search. Sometimes they're hard to find!

There is a slightly tricky way to add links in a report --- I forget how to do it every time.

Well, you can just copy and paste the link in there in its own space. But if you want it to apply it to some text that's already in there, just use your cursor to highlight the text, then click on the "globe" icon above the text box and paste your link into the box that pops up.

Thanks Mardee, this is a good list!

I 100% agree about writing the whole thing up in googledocs or a similar word program and then just copy and paste in sections. I learned this long ago on Trip Advisor after losing a whole TR. Ugh.

I also start taking notes when I'm traveling. For instance, if I want to give timings on something (like airplane door to distant gate or airplane door to Passport control), I'll time it and then start a TR Google doc so I can jot down things that I think might be of interest to others. That way you are not having to think about your whole trip when you write stuff up. I will often start the text portion of my TR when I have a low key afternoon or on a train ride. It's easy for me to start with travel wardrobe capsule + weather, lol.

"always feel shy about including a link to one of my own trip reports"

I can understand this BUT by PMing someone your TR you are being dismissive of anyone else who reads the thread and is planning to go to the same location. I think there are a lot of lurkers on here and your TR might be just what they need to help them plan. I hope you can feel comfortable enough to add a link to your TRs when you think it might be helpful!

Thanks, Mardee, for writing these tips. I will bookmark & keep for a guide.

This is well timed as I just posted one and have another TR coming up later this week (after I finish writing it out first on Word).
I learned by reading other TR to organize them differently than regurgitating my day-by-day steps.

I think my recent Krakow & Auschwitz TR followed most of these rules. The problem of adding links is that it takes up a lot of the max character count allowed.

Great suggestions, Mardee.

And you're right, sharing a trip report should be fun, and we shouldn't get too hung up on formatting. But if you want, here are a few tips:

• Formatting that you might do in Google Docs or MS Word won't carry over into these text boxes. If I write separate paragraphs in Word and copy them into here, they all run together. You have to hit enter twice to create separate paragraphs.

• Check the Preview window before you click the button to submit your post. Sometimes things can look wonky because you typed characters that create special formatting.

• And as nancys8 mentions, it's easy to go back and edit if things don't look right, or if you forgot something and want to add it later.

The problem of adding links is that it takes up a lot of the character count maximum allowed.

You can avoid that, Joy, by inserting the hyperlink into the actual text. For example, if I wanted to mention that I visited Westminster Abbey, I can put the link into the words "Westminster Abbey" in my post, like I did here. That way you avoid having extra characters.

Lane, if I format it in Google Docs, and then paste it into a trip report, my spaces come along with it. I don't have to break it up manually. The only thing that doesn't carry over are things like bold or italicized text and any links that are embedded in text. But I've never had to separate anything coming from Google Docs.

I usually don't use Microsoft Word for something like this, although I do use it for other things, but that's interesting that it won't carry over from MS.

That's a good idea about checking the prefix. It definitely saves people from having to go back to keep fixing mistakes, like I sometimes do, lol!

You can avoid that, Joy, by inserting the hyperlink into the actual text. For example, if I wanted to mention that I visited Westminster Abbey, I can put the link into the words "Westminster Abbey" in my post, like I did here. That way you avoid having extra characters.

That is not that I meant, sorry. The count on the post still takes into account the hyperlinks, since the full link will be way at the bottom. You can see it if you "edit" your post. I know for a fact because once I had inserted hyperlink and it flagged me as over maximum. I deleted it and I was fine.

Oh, yes, Joy, you are exactly right. I forgot about that. Yeah, that is an issue. 😊

Thanks Mardee! I've noticed many of us say something at the beginning like, "If you don't like a lot of detail, you might like to skip this". Recently one of my TRs had a lot about prepping for a physically demanding trip & hey, it might help others, but it's also so I remember.

I start off in Notes, as that's where I keep my (ahem) notes for my trip. As I travel, those get edited anyway, especially if something works well or doesn't work.

And it's great to say what did and didn't work well. I try not to apologize for my slower paced days, because hey, that's how we like to travel! I asked recently at an RS meeting how many hours people can spend in museums, most said only TWO hours! (I had felt guilty 'only' spending 4 hours at the MANN in Naples.) And, yes please do post a link to your trip report, you never know when it will help someone else!

I always feel shy about including a link to one of my own trip reports
when I'm replying to somebody's question about something relevant
later on. I often PM the person instead. Silly?

Sometimes I post the link and sometimes I take an excerpt from my TR and post it. I don't feel shy or silly about it, but I do hope it's helpful.

Other thoughts:

• I start by writing on a Notes app on my phone while I'm site-seeing if I find something particularly interesting, and then each evening I summarize my day. This is more for my own interest to refer back to, and not necessarily for a Trip Report. From these notes I use Microsoft Word to write the report and then post it to the Forum. I also take a lot of photos of signage as a reminder of what I'm looking at.
• Sometime during the pandemic I posted a question about what people wanted to read in a trip report. It turns out that there was no consensus and so I write in a style with thoughts that are important to me and hope it's appreciated.
• However what Mardee said about formatting is important. Long paragraphs are hard to read and very difficult to refer back to if you're searching for something.
• My TR's tend to get on the long side with each day maxing out allowable words per post/reply and I'm debating splitting them up. For example my upcoming 3 week trip may be broken down into 3 reports with links to each. In this case it may flow seamlessly because each week is a different country or event ( week 1 = near Rome, week 2 = ocean cruise, week 3 = Zaragoza and Sitges, Spain).
• I do try and personalize the report. For example at the Rijksmuseum last year I didn't want to shorten the report and simply say that we went, spent 4 hours and left and recommend it. Instead I focused on a couple of pieces of art that caught my attention and what I like about them. It may not have been helpful with people trying to plan a visit but it created a better memory for my visit and hopefully was helpful.

...how many hours people can spend in museums, most said only TWO
hours! (I had felt guilty 'only' spending 4 hours at the MANN in
Naples.)

I know I can linger at museums longer than most. I spent about 11 hours at Pompeii over two days and thought that was a good start. We spent about 3 hours at the MANN and never got through the top floor. Sadly it was all the time we had. When I answer questions about "how much time do I need?" I do my best to give some perspective about why you may need more time than you think.

always feel shy about including a link to one of my own trip reports when I'm replying to somebody's question about something relevant later on. I often PM the person instead. Silly?

I like when people share the link to their TR and sometimes do it if i think there'd be relevant information for the person. Example: often people will ask for ideas of things to do in a certain location and I will link my TR to give them ideas. I have gotten a lot of ideas for future trips from reading TR's.

Also, a while back I started adding links of my TR's on my profile after I noticed a few other posters do it. It feels like hitting the jackpot to click into TexasTravelMom's profile, for example 😃

Thanks for the topic, Mardee! I enjoy reading everyone’s trip reports.

I create mine in Notes on my iPad and add a little to it most evenings as I’m winding down the day. I also use pieces of what I write in Notes as small segments with my Facebook photo posts.

Someone caught me starting a trip report post last year. : ). I typically start it while I’m on my last day in Europe, so it’s posted while many people are asleep. I write little humorous comments as my many placeholder “replies” to avoid having someone’s reply in the middle of the trip report total string. They commented about my coffee remarks before I could replace them with the actual trip report text.

I always appreciate seeing side topic paragraphs- what they learned, what they packed or didn’t use, specific hobby details that enhanced the trip, etc.

One hint is to only use 90% of the allotted words for each reply piece of the trip report. Sometimes I need to add a few sentences and have run into the max space on one section.

Mary, that is so nice. I do enjoy going back and reading my own reports (more than actually writing them). But I constantly learn from other people.

But I have Lane’s problem with formatting. It doesn’t carry over from Google Docs to the format here. So I have to go back and redo it.

Another question I haven’t resolved in my own mind is that Trip Reports become difficult to find. I kind of like the idea of including a link to the report in the specific country forum.

Jean, that's a great reason to use less than the allotted character count.

Allan, I like that idea of putting some personal things in your trip report: things you saw or places you went to that meant something special. After all, the trip report isn't just for everyone else, it's for you as well. I think my trip report is partly for me. I like going back and looking at it, and there are many times where I'll go and look something up or just remember a certain place.

What makes a good trip report? <--- This thread from 2018 transformed my trip report writing from "I did this and then I did this and then I did this" to how I write now. Especially the post by aarthurperry.

Another innovation I stole from someone else (I don't remember who) is using headings/subheadings, bullet points, and bold letters to make my trip reports more skimmable to help readers decide if the trip report is worth their time to read.

My own "innovation" is using italicized sentences/paragraphs to separate trip vignettes from more nut-and-bolt information.

Excellent advice! I’m a retired journalist and for years have posted daily reports with photos on Facebook while traveling with my husband or on tours. When the trip is over, I paste those into a Google doc, edit there and transfer in sections to this lovely forum. My most recent trip report is this one: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/paris-and-the-heart-of-france-april-3-13

I’ve found trip reports to be an excellent resource and enjoy adding my two cents.

One thing that is helpful to me is that dictating notes in the hotel each evening. I have found during a trip that it's easier if I can talk-to-text, rather than type, as I speak faster than I can type, although I'm a pretty decent typist. Regardless, one of the reporters on the Wall Street Journal mentioned an app called Wispr. You can use it for free, but if you dictate a lot, it pays to get a subscription. It works so much better than Siri, and I've been using it for the past year or so. I like it because you don't have to give it punctuation commands. It just automatically knows when to put in commas and periods and so on.

Excellent advice, Mardee! I also write my reports in another format before posting it to the forum. Definitely helps to have a final word count, plus if you need to finish the report by adding additional replies, you can post it pretty quickly without the worry of someone else replying first.

I totally agree with breaking up reports in paragraphs. I admit with some reports that are just one large section, I’m less likely to read through it. Using bold and italics is a good strategy. Another approach to consider is to group your information by categories (such as places seen, restaurants /food, activities done, lessons learned, etc.) rather than a chronological list of each day’s events.

Trip reports that describes someone’s thoughts and feelings about their trips gives extra personal interest to the story, for me at least. Great topic!

Adding: Don't write a negative trip report, no one will read it, unless you are Paul Theroux.

toby, I don't think I've ever seen a negative trip report on here. Obviously, there are places with any trip report where someone may have written a negative review of a specific restaurant or hotel, but just in general, I don't ever remember one here. But of course, I haven't seen them all.

Toby said:

Adding: Don't write a negative trip report, no one will read it, unless you are Paul Theroux.

I think if I had a completely bad travel experience, I'd be embarrassed or ashamed to tell anyone. Sure, I've had negative experiences among my travels, but I've never had a trip that was worthy of a negative trip report. [Knocking on wood, as I'm 4 days away from departing on a 10-week trip.]

I actually think, however, that I would read a negative trip report. Who doesn't enjoy a little Schadenfreude from time to time? 😉

We took a trip once that for years afterwards we called "The Disaster Trip," but now we can't recall exactly which trip it was or exactly what happened. Like "Was that the one to France and the airport employees at CDG were on strike? Or the stuck-at-JFK all day both going and coming home? Or, or, or???" Turns out that no trip was ever actually a disaster!

TexasTravelMom and Lane, you both mentioned that you can't get your spacing to carry over to the new trip report. I've tried it a couple times and it works for me, so I'm not sure why it's not working for you. The only thing that didn't carry over was the font formatting, like bolding and italics and so on.

However, I just noticed that Google Docs has an option that you can use to make sure everything comes over intact and it's very simple. After you highlight the text in Google Docs that you are going to copy and paste (including text that is bold and/or in italics); instead of right-clicking "copy" (or Ctrl+C), instead right-click and choose the option "Copy with Markdown." Go to the RS thread and and paste it there, and it will not only bring over the spacing but also the bold and italicized words and so on that you used in your original Google Docs document (Markdown is the system that Rick Steves uses for the forum).

I don't think that MS Word has that option, Lane, but they do have an option to "Paste and Match Style", which should at least bring over the spacing.

With Microsoft word, if you double space it will create a new paragraph after you copy and paste into the Forum.

Thanks Mardee and everyone who added their thoughts for a very timely post.
Five more days in Italy then I’m headed home. I’ll be writing and posting my trip report soon.
Kathy

NancyS8, that was very funny you couldn't recall which trip was a disaster! At the end of a fabulous trip to Naples & Pompeii, we both got sick so cancelled Herculaneum & at the tail end of the TR, I said it took us 14 hours to get home instead of 6 hours via an ice storm in AMS (That KLM booked us straight into). ALL day we kept saying, 'but we had SUCH a great trip!' I guess it's all a matter of perspective!

Allan, this is quite funny because we spent 4 hours at the MANN, but only on the ground floor! Ah, another excuse to go back to Pompeii, excellent!

I know I can linger at museums longer than most. I spent about 11
hours at Pompeii over two days and thought that was a good start. We
spent about 3 hours at the MANN and never got through the top floor.
Sadly it was all the time we had.

It seems to me that there can be value to a negative trip report if it helps others. I can still vividly remember a disastrous two weeks in Rhodes exactly 40 years ago. It wasn’t so much anything to do with Rhodes or London, where we stayed but that it was exact the wrong place for us at that time of our lives. We chose the wrong apartment in the wrong resort at the wrong time of year for us with a 3 year old and an almost 1 year old. Writing about it at the time might have been of some use to others.

Things have moved on. I’m writing this on the train home from Manchester airport after a glorious week cycling on a tour with my younger son, now nearly 41. The Rhodes trip did him no harm - he has stayed on for 3 nights in Armenia by himself.

What do you think of attaching a public link of your trip as recorded in an app such as Wanderlog?

Technically, I suppose you could, but you're not supposed to put any links in your trip reports for one thing.

Trip Report content should be directly viewable in this forum. Links to any portion of your report outside the forum will be removed.

That said, I don't think it's rigidly enforced because a lot of people violate those rules by posting links to photos and so on.

Thanks for this clarification regarding content being directly viewable in this forum. I often see reviews that include links that are outside the forum, usually sites, restaurants, hotels, etc. So I was curious about adding additional detail and links via a Wanderlog journal.

OK, interesting --- I read this "Links to any portion of your report outside the forum " as meaning "links to parts of your actual report that are outside of the forum." Not meaning we shouldn't put in links to google images of a church or youtube videos of a town's holiday procession or a restaurant or someone's blog. The same kind of helpful links we put into our replies in other sections of the forum. No?

Nancy, I think you’re right. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, I think links to hotels or restaurants that you’re putting in for convenience are fine. But you shouldn’t link to something like Wanderlog that contains a portion of your trip report, or a blog or photo app or something like that. At least that is my understanding. I’m certainly not the expert here.

Honestly, I’m not sure why they have that rule. And I’m also not sure why they don’t enforce it since they do have it. 😊 I wouldn’t mind getting a link to someone’s blog or photo website or something like that. In fact, I wish we could just put photos in the post like they do on Fodors, but I’m sure that probably costs a lot more money and space.

jkh, the ironic thing is that you could probably do that if you were posting some kind of thread about how to use Wanderlog and included a link so you could share what you have done with your account. But just not in a trip report. As far as I know, that's the only forum here that has that requirement about not putting in links. That's an interesting conundrum.

How about a new rule that if someone has posted, let's just say, 2353 times, they can link to whatever they want?

But you shouldn’t link to something like Wanderlog that contains a portion of your trip report, or a blog or photo app or something like that. At least that is my understanding. I’m certainly not the expert here.

Mardee, I understand why you are saying this. I went back and read all the guidelines, both in general and in the Trip Report guidelines. But I’m not sure it’s as black and white as you are reading it. The fact remains that people do post links to their reports elsewhere, as well as sharing links to a Google Photos (or similar) album. Not regularly but often enough. What IS clear is that we aren’t allowed to link to something that could conceivably be a business or something monetized. Not to call you out, but you included a link to your blog in one of your recent trip reports (which I actually think is allowed).

I know this can easily get carried away and might be hard for the staff to monitor. But I think the point of the guidelines is the business aspect. Not the report link aspect.

That certainly could be the case, TexasTravelMom, and I hope you are correct. I admit that I'm a little confused by the rule, and I'm not sure exactly what it includes and what it excludes. I do think including a link to another other trip report would be okay, though, since it's an internal link to the forum. It was my understanding that they wanted to avoid people linking to outside blogs and photo websites like Shutterfly and Google Photos and so on.

But as I said, I'm just guessing at this from what I've read and what Andrew has said on occasion. It probably wouldn't hurt to get some clarification from him. 😊 I actually wish the rule could be clarified because I would put a link to my blog, which is not a commercial blog. There are no ads on it, and in fact, I pay to keep ads off of it. I know other people here, like Lane, have personal blogs as well, and it would be nice to see a link to it in his trip reports.

How about a new rule that if someone has posted, let's just say, 2353 times, they can link to whatever they want?

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

In the past when I have posted a link to my blog, our webmaster has politely reminded me that it is a violation of the Guidelines to do so. That is true even though my blog is not monetized at all. (In fact, it is an expensive hobby.) (Although not nearly expensive as the hobby of travel!)

It is a clear violation of Guideline #6:

Do not promote or advertise. Proposing transactions or promoting your website, blog, hotel, restaurant, uncle's private tours in Istanbul, etc for the purpose of marketing, financial gain, or boosting traffic is prohibited.

Posting a link to a blog would boost traffic if people clicked it, right?

I’ve seen reports here where the poster writes out a full report, and just reference (no link) the personal blog.
Link to blog lives on the respective profile page which I believe it is fine!

Also, I do like when some people share a link to their Google photos for the trip or a different site, since the forum doesn’t have photos enabled. That would take a lot of server space and more difficulty to manage/flag inappropriate photos.
But I sure enjoy looking at the photos to complement their report.

It was my understanding that they wanted to avoid people linking to outside blogs and photo websites like Shutterfly and Google Photos and so on.

Oh no, I hope this isn't the case as I link to Google Photos in my TRs. I always thought the outside links rule was more for personal websites/blogs on posts, but that it was OK to link to those in your profile.

I have linked to my photo albums and never been called out by our webmaster or had a post removed.

Maybe it's allowed, or maybe it has gone unnoticed.

I'll ask Andrew to weigh in.

I think that’s a good idea, Lane. I’m more confused than I ever was, and I have no idea what that rule means. 😵‍💫

Mardee, thank you. I got some useful information out of this.

I write it on MS Word whenever I can. I know most of the coding for bold, etc. so I just type it in when I write the report. But I guess Google docs would be easier. But I am an old dog so......

well at least a dig dog.

As for embedding links. I don’t do that. I won’t click on them because I can’t see where they go, so I don’t expect anyone else to click on them.

Mr. E, if you hover your cursor over the embedded link, you can see the URL that it leads to in the lower left hand corner. That doesn't mean that you have to click on it or that you would want to, but it does let you know what it is.

Mr. E - you can also right click and open "in incognito". But I do what Mardee says and hover over the link before I click on ANYTHING.

I do what Mardee says and hover over the link before I click on ANYTHING.

This is important, even if the link is not embedded.

I can type https://ricksteves.com/travel-forum/, then select it and make it go somewhere else.

Always be cautious before clicking a link in this forum, whether it's spelled out or embedded.

Exactly, Lane.
I have to do mandatory training around internet security (for work) quarterly, and this is always included with the lessons. It takes practice to learn NOT to click but hover first.

And on my Android phone I can hold my finger on it and the link will pop up. Still prefer to show the link. Just me.

I can type https://ricksteves.com/travel-forum/, then select it and make it go somewhere else.

Haha, nice demonstration, Lane! What's ironic is that the link on your post leads to Google, but when I quoted it and put it in my post, the link in the quote leads directly to the Rick Steves travel forum.

How about a new rule that if someone has posted, let's just say, 2353 times, they can link to whatever they want?

I see what you did there:). Maybe 1132 should be the cut-off;)

I find reports get buried on here very quickly and become hard to find.

There was a member a few years ago that IMO was "bullying"people on where they should post their reports. So, I just pulled mine. If I think I have info in it that fits the info the poster is looking for, I will mention they can ask me to send it to them.

Yeah, mnannie, I've seen a few strongly-worded "suggestions" telling folks to post their trips in the trip report section. Usually I do post it there and then will post a link to the TR in the applicable country forum. But honestly, I don't really care where it's posted.

The only time I mention it is if I think someone might get better responses if they post it in the "correct" forum. For example, most people here use the AllTopics link to see all the threads in chronological order, but there are newcomers here who aren't aware of that link, and so they tend to only visit the specific forums they care about. If someone asks a question about sightseeing in France country, but they accidentally post in the Germany Hotels and Restaurants Reviews forum, I might tell them that there's a good chance no one's going to see it there, and suggest that they move it.

Lane, you got me on that one. Pretty obvious that you could write an address then embed a different link and it would look correct. My mind isn’t crafty enough to imagine such things. But you got me on that one. Well-done. Still, because I try and do everything including the formatting on a laptop it’s going to be easier for me to just cut and paste the full link. When I don’t use the laptop every third word has a typo and the misspelling abound.

No one reads my trip reports anyway. I don’t go to very interesting places and the reports are boring as heck. Funny thing is that I get few comments on the forum, but on my last trip report I got (I went back and counted) 8 PMs with questions and comments. They are either afraid of guilt by association with me or criticism for the types of places they are interested in or …

I was asked to weigh in, so here we go.

No blogs. It's in our guidelines. As always, you may link to someone else's blog you find informative, but not your own. It's the difference between a recommendation and where we need to draw the line for promotion.

We have zero capacity to review your blog/website for the many ways in which they can be used for ulterior motives. It's not just monetization. The link alone can be used for boosting your rank in Google, AI indexing, boosting traffic for eventual ad sales, etc.

Plus, we find that sending people off this website means those people don't return to continue the conversation, thus voiding the purpose of our forum (sure, some return, but citing exceptions misses the point). No social media accounts. No video accounts.

To the many of you that host your own blogs with great, helpful info that otherwise fits our forum's purpose, I am sorry. Unfortunately, far too many others have ruined it for you. The one time we tried to make an exception, it immediately blew up in my face.

This forum allows photos. We've never said you can't share photos from your trip. We just don't have an image-uploading tool here to do that directly. You may link to your photos. This means linking directly to a jpg file (or whatever filetype it is). OR, you may link to an image or collection of images on a third-party website that is designed to host images (again, no social media).

A clarification regarding linking to photos from your trip: If you link to a page on your blog/website, that is out of bounds. If you link to an image file - not a web page - on your blog/website, that is in bounds. The latter strips nearly all concern for ulterior motives.

Allowing images is not an exception to the No Blogs rule or Guideline #6.

Apologies if our moderation for such things has seemed inconsistent. From our side, we regularly need to remove links to blogs, etc. It's easily possible we have missed things, though we've seen many misunderstand our approach - why some things are allowed and others aren't.

The overarching goal is to eliminate links that can have motives beyond genuinely sharing info and advice about travel. Our community's ability to trust the advice and other content shared here is at the core of why people come here, and we're protective of that.

Andrew, thank you for clarifying this. I will admit that I've been very confused by the rules, and quite frankly, I think the language could be a bit less ambiguous. Here is what I'm seeing:

In the community guidelines, the language that I see about blogs says this: Do not promote or advertise. Proposing transactions or promoting your website, blog, hotel, restaurant, uncle's private tours in Istanbul, etc for the purpose of marketing, financial gain, or boosting traffic is prohibited. No fake reviews. Unsolicited guide reviews are subject to removal. (emphasis added).

That, to me, says that your blog needs to be promoting something to be prohibited. Obviously, I am incorrect, but maybe it could be reworded for purposes of clarity?

And why I thought a link to photos were not included is because of this language at the top of the trip report form that says: Trip Report content should be directly viewable in this forum. Links to any portion of your report outside the forum will be removed. Again, to me, this says that anything that is not contained in the trip report, including any links to anything, including photos, is forbidden. Again, maybe that could be reworded?

Sorry for ditzing this to death, although as a retired attorney, that's what I did for a living, so it's hard to break myself of the habit. Thanks for understanding. Of course, you're under no obligation to change it. Just my thoughts.

I'm not rewriting the guideline. There are just sooo many ways for someone to promote here. I intend for it to be somewhat broad. I have ~one sentence to try and incorporate all the various ways that you can promote. The alternative is to turn it into legalese listing endless specifics, and I'm not doing that.

Allow me to trim that guideline in the way that applies to blogs that aren't monetized.

"Promoting your website (or) blog...for the purpose of...boosting traffic is prohibited."

I'll edit the other.